Transformable oil-nebulizing furnace.



J. P. PROPER.

TRANSFORMABLE OIL NEBULIZING FURNAGE.

.APPLICATION FILED AUG. 12, 1909.

1,099,099, Patented June 2, 1914u MM V- OOOOGOGGOO OO E OO JOHN P. PRGPER,

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g Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2,1914.

Application mea Augnstlaiaoa semina 512,508.

To-all whom t may concern v Be it known that I, JOHN P. PROPER, a citizenof the United States, residing at Los Angeles,` in the county of Los `Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Transformable Oil-Nebulizing Fur-` nace, of which the following is. a specification.

This invention relates to "furnaces for heating steam generators and theli-lre and pertains to that class of furnaces in which the. medium that supplies oxygen to the fuel is conducted through air heating chambers before being delivered to the fuel; said chambers being heated by the heat of the furnace.

An object of this invention is to provide a furnace of t-his characterv in Which the air will be heated to a very high degree andz will be supplied to the burner in a most eiiicaciousmanner for producing complete combustion of the fuel in the furnace, and which furnace will be so constructed that it will bev lasting and not liable to quick destruction by the high temperatures to which the `floor of the combustion chamber is subjected.

A further object of this invention is to provide an oil-burning or other fluid fuel or comminuted fuel burning furnace which y can be quickly transformed to an ordinary coal burning furnace in case of necessity, and which can be again restored to use as a fluid fuel burning or' a comn'iinuted fuel? burning furnace.

Further objects alie to make improvementsin the following particulars,.viz.: to reduce the noise of combustion; to shorten the flame in the combustion chamber; to minimize the draft,- thereby economizing heat; and to largely ll the combustion chamber with radiant heat as distinguished from flame so that the Walls will not be subject to processes of oxydation or to the effects of progressive combustion.

The accompanying drawings illustrate' the invention in the best form in which I at present contemplate embodying the same.

Figure 1 is a broken, vertical, longitudinal' section on line @aL-w1, Figs. 2 and 3, of a furnace embodying this invention showing the burner and the boiler intact. Fig. 2 is a fragmental plan of the same from irregular line 22, Figs. 1. 3 and -5. Fig. 3 is a detached, frag-mental, sectional elevation on irregular line m9, Figs. 1, 2 and 5. Fig. 4 is a fragmental, sectional' elevation on `line 4-, Figs. l, 2 and 5. Fig". 5 is a fragwalls are built upon mental, sectional" detail ori' line :t5-#m5, 2,3and11. The combustion chamber l of the furnace .may be constructed with the usual side-and end Walls a., andis arranged to supply' re to the tubular boiler 2 from Whichthe smoke-stack 3 leads to carry olf the produc-ts of combustion. f

4 is a nebulizing oil burner Whichmay be constructed in accordance with myl Patent No. 725134:, dated April 14:, 1903. l Said burner is let in from the hermetically-closed door 5 in. the boiler front 6 of thefurnace, and opens into the front end of the combustion chamber 1 through a central tunnel 7 which opens from a hot .air antechamber 38 and may be constructed of any refractory material, as rebrick and comprises upright side Walls 8', an arched top slab 9 and a door 10. Said tunnel` fiat bottom slab or the bottom slab 10 and saidv slab terminates at the outer faces of the walls 8 and extends forwardly andrear- Wardly of the tip of the burner/1, and the front edge of the floor slab rests on a front' `baille Wall llithat extends from one to the other of the side Walls a.

The tunnel 7 is open-ended,y and the out-A let 12 of the `burner tip or nozzle 4 is located Iinst infront of the rear open end of thel tunnel. y

rlhe air-inlet 14- through the boiler-front admits air to the front distributing-chamber `15, from the top of which a rearwardly-openthe air in a sheet to the eXpaning horizontal slot 16 distributes uniform th in horizontal sion grate-bar chamber 17' Which extends in gradually contracting form under the tunneland under the front portion of the combustion-chamber yfor a considerable distance to the back expansion and distributing chamberIS.

The grate-bars 19; 20 are supported above the` expansion and grate-bar chamber 17 and rear expansion chamber 18 by the front and rear supports 21 and 22, and the middle support 23. the latter of which is provided with reduced airpassages 24. The grate-bars 19, 2O may be of any approved construction and are preferably perforated as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and the same may be formed in tvvo taper sections 19,- 20, the larger ends being abutted together and resting on the central support 23. It is desirabley to keep the lrgratbars cool, and for this purpose a heat insulating sheet of asbestos 25 is placed upon the upper face of the grate-bars, said face and sheet being arranged aslant toward the rear. On top of the asbestos sheet 25 is placed a tirebrick flooring formed in jointed sections 26 having overlapping joints 27. At the front end of the upper and forward grate-bar sections 19, tire-bricks are laid, forming the baiile wall 11, above the top of which at the sides of the tunnel are air-passages 28. l

On top of the floor 26 refractory blocks 29 and 30 are arranged, and on top of said blocks a refractory heat conducting combustion-chamber floor formed of sections 31 having lapped joints 32, is laid; the blocks 29 and 30 being arranged in staggered relation to form a labyrinth-way 33 for the air underneath the slanting door 81. Said labyrinth-way communicates with and leads from the upper rear air-distributing chamber 34 to which air flows from the lower rear air-distributing chamber 18. A refractory slab 35 resting on the rear wall 36 of the rear expansion-chamber forms the top of the upper rear air-distributing chamber 34.

The upwardly slanting air labyrinth formed above the grate bars and floor 26 by the staggered rectangular heat-conducting blocks 29 and 30 between the labyrinth floor 26 and the combustion-chamber floor 31 serves to break up the air body and to thoroughly heat the air by reason of the highly heated floor 31 and the labyrinth blocks 29 and 30 that support the floor and are highly heated thereby. Said labyrinth opens at its upper end into the hot air receiving-chamber 37 that extends entirely across the space between the side walls a. and behind the baiile wall 11, the side walls 8 of the tunnel serving to further heat the air as it passes through the receiving-chamber. The chamber 37 immediately rearward of the baffle wall 11 is covered at the middle by the ioor 10 of the tunnel and is open at the sides of the tunnel and through the hot air passages 28 to the hot air antechamber 38 which extends across the front of the furnace and supplies hot air evenly to the open frontend of the tunnel thus to supply the fuel flowing from the burner nozzle, with a vast body of gently moving highly heated air all around the nozzle, thus to envelop the nebulized fuel with an oxydizing mediuminto which said fuel expands, becoming incorporated therewith so that combustion ensues without violent reactions and with such spontaneity that scarcely any flame is produced and the liberation of heat m pure radiance is almost instantaneous Kben the furnace isY in operation under full eat.

The labyrinth blocks are heat-conducting and are preferably square in plan and of two sizes, the larger blocks being arranged equidistant apart with their sides oblique to the axis of the furnace, and the smaller blocks are also square in plan but are ar ranged centrally in the open squares formed by the larger blocks so that the blocks are in staggered relation and have angularly arranged faces and the air passing through the labyrinth is beset with sharp angles at the corners of the blocks thus to break the air body and heat every part of the air before it issues to the hot air antechamber.

The outlet from beneath the combustion chamber Hoor is shut off from the combustion chamber by two head walls 39 that are in line attheirrearsides with the rear end of the tunnel from whence they bend or arch forward and upward to the crown 40 of the hot air antechamber. These walls extend from the side walls of the tunnel to the side walls cz.. It is thus seen that after the air has entered through the inlet 14 it is evenly distributed to the expansion-chamber 1T and is thus directed to the reduced air-passages 24 and thence under the grate-bars to the rear expansion-chamber 18 where it expands and Hows upward through the openingsbetween and in the grate-bars to the distributing-chamber 34 where it is first subjected to the heat of the combustion-chamber which is conducted through the slab 35. Then the air iows through the highly-heated labyrinth to the chamber 37 and issues upwardly in a highly heated condition at the sides of the tunnel below the level thereof and then up and forwardly into the tunnel and on as described around said burner-tip and into the combustion chamber; it being understood that combustion is maintained in the combustion-chamber 1 by supplying to said chamber with the heated air, the ignited product from the burner-tip.

In case it is desired to change the furnace from an oil burning to a coal or a briquet burning furnace, the change may be quickly made by simply removing the slabs, blocks and brick-work from above the grate-bars, and afterward the furnace may again be converted into an oil burning furnace by restoring the slabs, blocks and brick-work.

The support 21 may be an iron plate that covers the front distributing chamber 15 and the slot 16. Said plate 21, chamber 15 and slot .16 extend across the furnace from one to the other of the side walls a.

The materials that go to make up the temporary air heating structure above the grates may be of such character that they may be removed and replaced as occasion demands withoutloss.

I claim:

1. A furnace comprising a combustion chamber; a central tunnel opening into the front end of said chamber; grate bars under the combustion chamber and the tunnel; a

floor over the grate bars; an air heating labyrinth above the grate bars between the floor and the combustion chamber; an air expansion chamber under the rear end of the grateI bars; a distributing chamber above the rear end of the grate bars communicating with the air expansion chamber and opening into the rear end of the labyrinth; means for keeping the grate bars cool; means connecting said labyrinth at its front end with the tunnel; and a burner in the tunnel to supply fuel thereto.

2. A furnace comprising a combustion chamber; a central tunnel opening into the front fend of the combustion chamber; an antechamber 'from which the tunnel opens; grate bars under the .combustion chamber and the tunnel; a floor over the grate bars; an air heating labyrinth above the grate bars between the floor and the combustion chamber; a rear expansion chamber below the grate bars; a distributing chamber above the lrate bars communicating with the eX pension chamber at the rear of the labyrinth; a heat insulatin sheet between the labyrinth and the gratefbars for' keeping the grate bars cool; means to deliver air heated by the labyrinth to the antechamber at the sides of the tunnel; and means for supply ing fuel to the tunnel.

3. A furnace comprising a combustion chamber, an antechamber at the front of the combustion chamber, a tunnel of less width than the antechamber and leading rearwardly from the antechamber to the combustion chamber, air heating means `beneath and extending rearwardly of the tunnel, and means between the side walls of the tunnel vand the side walls of the combustion chamber to direct air from the air heating means to the antechamber at the sides of the tunnel.

ll. In a furnace having a combustion chamber, an air heating labyrinth below and communicating with the combustion chamber and having therein staggered heat cony ber, ya tunnel at the front of and communiy Y eating with the combustion chamber, an antechamber opening into the front of the tunnel and extending laterally beyond the sides thereof, walls extending laterally from the side walls of the tunnel for separating the combustion chamber from the antechamber, an air heating chamber extending under the tunnel and opening at the sides thereof between the side Walls of the tunnel and the side Walls of the combustion chamber into the antechamber, and fuel supplying' means in the tunnel.

6. A furnace comprising a combustion chamber, a labyrinth, heated by the combustion chamber, a distributing chamber to deliver air evenly to the rear end of the labyrinth, a grate-bar chamber beneath the labyrinth, means to deliver a thin horizontal sheet of air to the grate-bar chamber, a tunnel at the front of the combustion chamber, a chamber extending beneath the tunnel and communicating with the labyrinth, a baliie wall in front of the last named chamber, an antechamber communicating with said last named -chamber to receive air therefrom and supply it to the tunnel, and means in the tunnel to deliver fuel to the combustion chamber.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 6th day of August, 1909.

JOHN P. PROPER.

In presence of- JAMES R. TOWNSEND, L. CELLE RICE. 

